Marta Simões

Many cities or countries have a distinct malaise. They are places that could be Portugal, so sunk in a painful longing of the past, and where each tension of the present is only the tip of an iceberg that is explained in successive retreats that can go straight until origin of the species, at least. This feeling common to many latitudes is often presented as a diagnosis, a denial of a painful present as opposed to the desire to return to a glorious past.

A scientist tells us that Pluto is no longer considered a planet. The feelings of disappointment and nostalgia, and the impossibility of being able to go back to certain moments of his life, make him want to find in the story of David an answer for whatever exists beyond science and reason.

After fourteen years away from her homeland, Salomé is forced to return to Cape Verde to see her dying brother. During her stopover at Lisbon airport, Águeda, a cleaning lady, recognizes Salomé as "Mila", her childhood friend. Águeda invites Salomé to leave the airport and spend the stopover at her home, with the women of her family. The neighborhood transports her on a spiritual journey, whose destination reveals a painful bond with her homeland.

A journey through the real history and the tales of a region in southern Portugal and a portrait of the people who have lived there, weaving together accounts of rural workers and field notes of archaeologists, amateur footage and scientific drawings, legends, poems, and songs.

Sahar tirelessly travels the forgotten plains and cliffs of his native island to prospect for a rare mineral. Suddenly, a voice upsets his search, his relationship with the world, and our Milky Way.

"Blue Bird" is a letter to the director’s ancestors and a quest to understand the anxiety consuming his body, exploring how memories and the body intertwine.

A group of performers – some with, some without disabilities – explore the island of Madeira, where the rich flora and fauna, artificial intelligences and underwater beings all make collective mischief.

Follows Dan, a young Venezuelan man currently living in Lisbon, who collects magic mushrooms in the forest and distributes them in the city to those in need of help – like a New Age Robin Hood – using pigeons as carriers.

A story of a polyamorous, non-binary relationship struggling to survive an epidemic of genetically modified killer mosquitos.

A group of teenagers floats down the river, pretending to be dead for social media. One of them drifts away.

In a natural crisis scenario, the entire population of Azores is forced to evict due to an uncontrolled plague of hydrangeas, a common flower in these islands. Two young soldiers, bound to the beauty of the landscape, guide us to the stories of sadness of those forced to leave and the inherent desire to resist by inhabiting the islands. The filmic wandering becomes a nostalgic and political reflection on territorial belonging and identity, and the roles we assume in the places we came from.

Love, fear and anxiety. A couple spends their last night together, in Lisbon, before one of them leaves for another country. A romantic night gives way to unspoken tensions in their life's turbulent present and the world's uncertain future.

Ana is spending the holidays with her family. The setting is perfect for relaxation and for wondering. Next to the house, workers are building a pond. Attracted by it, Ana senses a presence, someone familiar yet still unknown. Alexander David captures on screen all the beauty of a childhood self-discovery and the first uncertain steps taken outside of parental control. Evocative and mellow, Water Hazard explores queer identity with a delicate and empathetic eye.

Drawing from an archive of letters written in the 1960s, the film reimagines women's clandestine journeys from across the United States to Mexican border towns to access underground abortion care.

A dense atmosphere of change and union strikes in Porto’s fishing port. Clara, the owner of a fishermen’s bar threatened by closure, finds in the arms of Raquel, an employee on cruise ships, the only shelter to express her fears and contradictions.

A Guest + A Host = A Ghost is as free as it is associative.

An amusement park seen as a place that changes because of the way it is inhabited during the day. The behavior of those who are just visiting contrasts with the way those who work there behave, whose actions are the same every day.

Mirene and André are a heterosexual couple struggling with infertility issues. Carl and Vicente are a homosexual couple undergoing an experimental procedure in order to have a biological child.

Lourdes and Lana met telepathically using “sensory pills”, a technology that allows access to other people’s sensations from a distance. After months of relationship, Lourdes decides to visit the country house of her parents, Vicente and Carl, and introduce them to her girlfriend.